Month: February 2018

Atlanta’s post-recession construction boom continued throughout 2017 and the metro’s industrial market set a new annual record for absorption, according to CBRE’s latest industrial and logistics quarterly report. Demand outpaced new deliveries in 2017, as numerous online and established retailers, suppliers and distributors have shown strong interest in the metro’s industrial product, pushing for an increase in pace and size of new industrial development.

Pent-up demand

The market’s inventory expanded with the addition of 18 million square feet of new space and experienced roughly 4 million square feet of net absorption over the course of last year, bringing the 2017 total to more than 21 million square feet. In addition, this marks the fourth consecutive year with more than 17 million square feet of absorbed space. As a direct result of strengthening absorption numbers, rental rates have also gone up—7.5 percent year-over-year and 27.6 percent overall since the end of 2014.

During the fourth quarter, nearly 2.5 million square feet of speculative space came online, with roughly 2.4 square feet of new product still available. The newly delivered spec space and the fact that more than 14.5 million square feet of industrial product is currently under construction are signs that supply is starting to alleviate some of the pent-up demand across the market. Additionally, more than 8 million square feet of space currently under development is spec warehouse.

Vacancy is likely to rise in the near future, as more than 7.5 million square feet of spec space is set to be delivered over the next quarters. The majority of the fourth quarter’s completions are in the Airport/South Atlanta submarket, due to the area’s proximity to the airport and Georgia ports. Given the prevalence of transportation and logistics firms operating within the state of Georgia, this is an unsurprising statistic.

Distribution-oriented market
Rental rate and vacancy trends

The market’s competitive nature led to a $0.08 per square foot increase in overall rental rates, marking the 18th consecutive quarter of rent growth in Atlanta. The current rate of $4.58 per square foot is the highest in the last 16 years. The Airport/South Atlanta submarket experienced the most significant increase in overall rates during the quarter ($0.41 per square foot), closely followed by Central Atlanta ($0.37 per square foot). These changes correspond with a decrease in available inventory from 9.1 percent in the third quarter to the current rate of 8.9 percent.

The demand for bigger and more modern warehouses has become prevalent in large industrial distribution-oriented markets. On average across the U.S., warehouses built during the current cycle (since 2012) are 143 percent larger than they were during the previous expansion cycle between 2002-2007. The average warehouse in Atlanta has increased 284 percent since the last development cycle, from 94,500 square feet to more than 362,900 square feet today. The metro’s warehouse size has topped the nation, as Atlanta experienced the largest increase in average size among the top 30 industrial markets nationwide.

An indigenous firm, Homework Development and Properties Limited has helped in changing the erroneous perception of foreign investors about the Nigerian real estate sector.

This is the major outcome of the recent conference organised by the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA) in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The Lagos real estate company showcased its affordable products and promoted positive developments in real estate in Nigeria.

Reflecting on the conference attended by physicians and other professionals, the Director of Homework Development and Properties Limited, Mr. Jide Adekola said it provided a platform, which helped to change the perception that foreign investors would not get value for money or might get scammed in Nigeria. It also created the awareness that there are professionals in the sector who are able to provide quality products locally.

“The change in perception, which we have created, would in no small measure boost businesses and increase the volume of foreign direct investments that can engender increase in gross domestic product of the country,” Adekola said.

He said that the event has exposed Homework to ANPA’s publications, increased networking and sales leads, the needs of customers and the property market, increased trust in foreign investors in the Nigerian real estate market.

Adekola explained that the real estate sector, which is inundated with issues of trust, lack of finance and presence of charlatan, can be saved if government subsidises the cost of land for credible developers who have the capacity to provide affordable housing.

A large real estate broker in Atlanta is the latest to partner with Voiceter Pro LLC to offer voice-enabled home searches on Amazon.com’s (Nasdaq: AMZN) Alexa and Alphabet’s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Google Home devices.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties will give people in metro Atlanta the ability to search for homes using technology developed by the owners of Voiceter Pro — Miguel Berger and his son, Ari.

Voiceter Pro also has agreements with real estate brokers and multiple listing services in several other areas, including Albany, Boston and Phoenix, Arizona.

The company developed voice-based apps enabling Alexa and the Google Assistant to respond to verbal commands, such as "open real estate." Users can search for homes and have the results sent to their smartphone.

The version being released in Atlanta will include a platform called Buyside, in which the digital assistant offers responses such as, “Your home is worth $450,000 and there are 750 buyers looking for a property like yours right now. Would you like to be connected to a local expert from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties to meet them?”

Check out the video below to see how the Albany area version of Voiceter Pro works.